Once Upon a Time
by luvscharlie
Summary: Because to get to happily ever after, we must first begin with once upon a time. Sequel to For His Ears Only; Ron/Hermione


_Once Upon a Time _by luvscharlie

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_"You know how when you were a little kid and you believed in fairy tales, that fantasy of what your life would be, white dress, prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill. You would lie in bed at night and close your eyes and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close you could taste them, but eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears. Most people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is it's hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely 'cause almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true."  
~Grey's Anatomy_

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"Come on, Hermione, hand over my wand. This damn thing has a zillion buttons."

"No, you agreed we would honeymoon as Muggles, and that's what we're going to do."

Ron grabbed the back of the dress and ripped the delicate buttons sending them scattering across the floor.

"What did you do?"

"Undid the buttons," he said, flashing her a most-satisfied-with-himself smirk.

"You did not undo the buttons. You ripped my wedding dress!"

"Well, it's not like you're going to be wearing it again. You're stuck with me. Anyway, it's your fault for not letting me use my wand." He pulled her down onto his lap slipping his hands inside the back of the now ruined gown. He came into contact with the hooks of her bra and cursed again. "Bloody hell! How many layers of clothes are you wearing?"

She attempted to push his hands away and rise from his lap, but Ron wasn't having it. He held firm. "Ron Weasley, first and foremost, you need to watch your language. Secondly, I think you're a little drunk from the champagne—"

Ron cut her off. "Hermione, get back here." His lips grazed her shoulder as he attempted to pull the flowers from her upswept hair.

"I will not," she said, turning on him as she successfully wriggled free of his grasp. She stomped across the room to retrieve some of the buttons now scattered about the floor. The flowers that he had managed to get part way from her hair fell the rest of the way to the floor and she turned an icy glare his way. "Look what you did."

He stuck out his lower lip, looking like a thoroughly chastised child.

"Oh, no you don't! The pouty lip will not work this time. I do not believe you did this," she said indicating her head toward the growing pile of buttons filling her hand.

He stuck his lower lip out a bit farther.

"That's not fair, Ron. Do you know how much I regret telling you how adorable you look when you do that?"

"How adorable?" The corner of his mouth turned up.

"Way too adorable for _my_ own good," she said, visibly softening and allowing herself to be pulled onto his lap once more.

Ron took the buttons from her hand and flung them across the room.

"Ron! You are pushing your luck, mister!"

"That can wait. I cannot. I kept my composure for most of the day. Now that I have you to myself, we are not wasting our time picking up buttons and fussing about hair." He kissed a trail down her neck, punctuating each word he spoke with a well-placed kiss. One hand worked on the hooks to her bra and the other hand moved back into her hair.

She was beginning to lose her composure when a loud knock sounded at their hotel room door. Ron rolled his eyes and locked his fingers behind her neck. "Ignore it," he whispered.

The knock sounded again, louder this time. "Whoever that is," he said, "apparently does not know the power of my Jelly-Legs Jinx."

Hermione walloped him hard about the shoulder as she climbed from his lap and headed for the loo. "Remember, you are a Muggle."

She heard him say something under his breath about being one thoroughly pissed off Muggle at the moment as she grabbed her overnight bag and closed the door.

A knock sounded outside the door moments later. "Hermione, come out. I got us one of those don't be disturbing us sign things."

"Not yet," she said, giggling at his description. "I'm not ready."

"Her-myyyy-neeee," he whinged.

"This is my wedding night, Ron. I want to make it special. Have a little patience, will you?"

She heard him grumble something about birds being mental. A minute later, he slid a pink packet under the door. The wrapper wasn't something she recognised, but before she could ask what it was, Ron said, "Slip it under your tongue right before you come out."

"What is it?"

"A wedding gift from my brothers."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Even they aren't stupid enough to bugger up your wedding night."

She slipped into the lingerie that Ginny had gotten her as a wedding gift. Honestly, it left little to the imagination and she decided not looking in the mirror was probably best. This was certainly not their first time. They had lived together for well over a year now, but she was still not terribly confident about her body and this kind of lingerie was outside of her comfort zone.

She pulled the few flowers that remained from her hair and used her wand to rearrange her curls. After all, Ron need not know everything she did. They were honeymooning as Muggles, but, well, magic had its place.

She ripped open the pink packet and slipped the tablet under her tongue. It dissolved instantly. She felt lightheaded at first. She opened the door and stepped back into the room. Where once there was an ordinary Muggle hotel room, there was now something right out of the storybooks her mother read to her as a child. The simple double bed was now one fit for any princess. It looked as though it had been carved from ice and glistened in the moonlight. Where once there was an ordinary ceiling, there was now a night sky filled with so many stars that if you were to fly on a broom, one dip of your hand would capture millions of stars. The smell of roses filled the room, and there in the centre of it all was her prince.

"Ron? How? I don't—"

"A gift from my brothers," he whispered. "A new product. It only works after a bonding ceremony."

"Then, you're seeing everything that I am?"

He nodded and smiled. "We are their test subjects."

Always thirsty for knowledge, Hermione was unable to stop herself from asking, "How did they—"

Ron put his finger to her lips. "Shh. There's time for that later. It only lasts two hours." His lips pressed down gently upon hers and she returned his kiss with eagerness. He took her by the hand and led her to the bed.

"Well, it's obviously driven by the female's deepest desires."

Ron chuckled. "You really can't help yourself, can you?"

She pushed away from him and lay down across the bed. He followed after and pressed her back into sheets that smelled of candy floss and were just as soft. She had loved that smell as a child.

He rested his weight on his elbows above her and gave her an appraising look. "So beautiful," he said.

"Kiss me," she whispered against his skin.

"Gladly."

His lips were gentle as she attempted to work the buttons on his shirt free. He pushed her hands away and pulled open his shirt sending the buttons skittering across the floor.

"Do you have some new aversion to buttons, I don't know about?"

"Didn't you hear? They're evil. They keep our skin from touching."

"Oh, that is bad," she said, playing along.

"Do you know what's even worse?" he asked kissing her neck and squeezing her breast.

"What?" Her breath was coming in short gasps as his lips worked their way over her shoulder, down her chest and his tongue dipped between her breasts.

"Lace," he said, pulling the strips of the flimsy lingerie down her arms and tossing it aside.

She did her best impression of a helpless maiden. "Thank you, kind sir, for rescuing me from such evil."

He blew on his knuckles. "And my brother thinks taming dragons is tough work."

"Charlie doesn't tame dragons. They can't be tamed," she said.

"Yes, yes, he studies them. Thank you, we've only heard that every holiday that Charlie's managed to make it home since I was about ten. Now, hush and let me finish rescuing you."

"Ron, look!" Her voice was filled with excitement as she pointed toward the no longer ordinary ceiling. "A shooting star."

She used the distraction to her advantage and quickly flipped him to his back. She threw a leg over his waist and straddled his torso.

"Hermione! What'd ya do that for?"

"This damsel wants to show you how proper rescuing is done."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "That's cheating. Plain and simple. I was trying to— Ooh."

"Was that a groan of approval?" she asked coyly with a swivel of her hips. She unfastened his trousers and slid her hand inside to stroke him.

"Brilliant. You can rescue me anytime you please, Mrs. Weasley."

She wrapped her fingers around him and leaned forward. "Say my new name again."  
She slid her fingers up and down his shaft as he choked on the words.

She slid down onto him and he uttered a string of words that were part curse, part prayer. Ron clasped his hand behind her neck and pulled her mouth down to his. He rolled her beneath him and made sweet love to her until the illusion dimmed and the stars began to fade away.

She rested her head against his chest and he ran his fingers through her hair. "So what did you think of my brothers' gift to us?"

"I think," she said, "I would have liked more than one of those little tablets."

"Surely, you don't think I just got one."

She pulled him to her and kissed him long and deep.

It was the start of something beautiful; the start of something real. What started once upon a time so many years ago on a train bound for Hogwarts had brought them here to the beginning of their happily ever after.

Fin.


End file.
